To many observers, Latrell Sprewell is the closest to a friend Marcus Camby has on the Knicks. But when Sprewell, in detailed fashion yesterday, explained how the team needed to get bigger and tougher, wasn’t that in some way a slap at Camby?

“Well, that’s what he says,” Camby said.

No doubt, Camby had no appetite for starting anything with Sprewell, not with the wounds still fresh from the Knicks’ playoff ouster, not with Camby’s own personal turmoil still on the surface of his thoughts.

“I think we have rebounding, I think we’re a good basketball team, it just wasn’t our year,” Camby said with a shrug of his shoulders. It wasn’t our turn to go all the way.”

Asked to contemplate what he’s endured, living through a family hostage crisis, Camby added “These past two weeks, nobody’s been through with I’ve been through.”

Sprewell also came down hard on his teammates, complaining that he had to carry too much of the load and too many Knicks in Game 5 did not play with the same sense of urgency he did. Yesterday, as they parted ways, some players did not seem pleased with Sprewell’s remarks.

“Every guy went out there and gave it their all, whether they had a good game or not, you cannot question that,” Glen Rice said. “When you lose a game like we did and a series, a lot of things are said that maybe shouldn’t be said.”

Added Charlie Ward, “I thought we all put our hearts on the line.”

Allan Houston, who could have been a target of Sprewell’s, wanted specifics.

“Nobody wanted to go down like we went down,” Houston said. “But if you are going to point fingers, then point ’em. Don’t point ’em in the air.”